A New Age
by Reina de nieve
Summary: Blade takes an aprentice that is a little more than he can
1. Stupid Horse

I sat there on my acursed horse, squerming trying to find a part of my ass that wasn't sore from the previos three days of riding. I resigned myself to being uncomfortable. Riven jumped out of the bushes from beside the road and attacked my fot in an invitation to play. His attempt to rouse me from my foul mood brought a smile to my face. "Sorry," I told him, "I don't have time to play right now. I missed the last meeting of the assasin's guild and con not afford to miss this one. The other elders already think I am too wraped up in Chiana, therefore they are eager to force and aprentice upon me. If I miss this one it would only prove their appinions about me correct." I longingly thought of Chiana, how wonderful it would to love again. I started to prepare excuses for why I could not take an aprentice at this time. I considered suing living too far away for a city as an excuse, but the elders would never accept it knowing that it was a problem within my power to remidy. All of the excuses I could come up with were far too transparent. I sighed and glanced at the seting sun. Soon weather I wanted it or not my lazy afternoons spent learning how to love again with Chiana were going to come to an end. I kicked my horse into a canter trying to make the most of the last hour of precious winter sun. At twilight I came to terms with the fact that I was not close to reaching the outermost setelments surounding the capital and began seting up camp just as the first flakes began to fall. I removed the horse's saddle without any misshaps, but strugled to remove the bridle. I reached towards the horse's head but he shied away. I tried again with similar results. Upon trying from the hore's other side I found I was able to grab the bridle and eased it over one of the horse's ears. Due to his hight I not so gently slid it over the horse's other ear. This action was met with a hoof stomping down on my foot. I let forth a stream of curses that were lost to a gust of wind. The horse gave me a reproachful look for the rough removal of the bridle. I gave him a look that made the snow falling around me look warm. By the time I had finished the nigh impossible task of setting up a tent night had well and truly fallen. Without a source of light looking for dead branches hidden beneath the snow would be hopeless. I limped to the tent, crawled inside, and motioned for Rivan to join me. Exhausted I did not even bother to remove the boot from my swollen foot. I curled up in a ball around Rivan using him as my heater, and fell into an uneasy sleep. I awoke in the morning just before daybreak shivering, at some point during the night Rivan must have decided that I needed a hat and was now sitting on my head. I shooed him off and examined my injured foot. I regretted not removing the boo last night as by now the swelling made it difficult to do so. I didn't think it was broken, but that stupid horse had certainly bruised it. I grimaced as I shoved my foot back into the boot. With Rivan around packing up the tent took awhile as he like to unfold it, but I didn't mind as it delayed riding. Fortunately this time the horse decided to cooperate. I made good time and by early afternoon had reached the outskirts of the capital. I briefly considered riding all of the way to the capital today but quickly decided against it not wanting to risk letting any of the other assassins see me limping. I stopped at the first decent inn I came to and gladly handed my horse over to a stable boy. Quickly eating supper I went upstairs eager to remove my boots. Giving Rivan a piece of dried beef to occupy him I prepared for the confrontation I knew I would have with Talon. It must have been close to midnight by the time the lull of sleep emanating from Rivan's purring overcame the thoughts rushing through my head. When I awoke to the sounds of his meows of hunge it was close to midmorning. I lazily tost Rivan the last of the dried beef. I got dressed pleased to see that the swelling in my foot had gone down. I wandered the streeets, I knew it was unwide as I could not refrain from limping all day, and did not want the guild of assasins, Talon in particular finding out.


	2. Confrontation

I sat there in my rooms absentmindedly embroidering a flower as the snow fell outside. A flicker of movement caught my eye. "Shimsara!" I gasped, "what are you doing here?"

"Find and protect the one who is both predator and prey," he replied then vanished back into the shadows without a trace.

I sat there pondering what he meant. "I wish to speak to Minn-Satu" I told one of my guards.

"I shall fetch her at once, your majesty," he said in response.

"I am surprised that you seek my counsel," Minna-Satu remarked upon entering.

"Mother, I seek your counsel because a serious matter has arisen," I told her. "Shimsara has visited me and told me to find and protect the one who is both predator and prey."

"He could be referring to Lord Conash as his familiar the wood cat, fits that description. But that does not make sense as we already know of his importance. Perhaps it will become clear in time," she said.

I caught a glimpse of a rider on a familiar looking grey horse. It was Blade if I was not mistaken. I looked around for his familiar, Rivan. I spotted him attacking the horse's tail, confirming the rider's identity. He stopped at an inn, dismounted none too gracefully, and had his horse led away to be stabled. He proceeded to wander the streets, walking with a slight limp, occasionally pausing to examine the merchant's wares. Lacking something better to do I trailed him from a distance. As the day wore on his limp became more pronounced. Eventually he stopped and started bartering over the price of a dagger with a merchant. Curious I discreetly moved closer. Blade's eyes bet mine and I could tell that he recognized me. He walked away, this time without a limp, and expertly vanished into the crowd. I stood there a smile on my face. He always thought himself so clever hiding his injuries from me. But in reality I always figured it out.

I walked to the meeting place mulling over my encounter with Talon. He didn't see me limp did he? No, he must have seen it. That man seemed to have a way of figuring out everything. When I arrived at the meeting place I stood in the back trying to avoid Talon and desperately hoping I would not be asked to dance. I felt a cold wet nose sniff my hand. I was Talon's familiar, a wolf.

"Blade, is it not time for you to take another apprentice?" Talon pried.

"What, so I can have another failure," Blade said caustically.

"I'm sorry you lost Bolt and Lance, but at least you still have Ash, and he is not a failure."

"Bolt was an idiot. It is immaterial to me that he is dead, it was bound to happen sooner or later. And ash is yet another assassin who can't dance."

"You will train another apprentice or I shall have your tattoo burned off!" threatened Pierce.

"I have already trained three," countered Blade, "or is that not enough for you."

"I will not force an apprentice of my choosing upon you as I do not wish to insult you by giving you one who could never be any good. But I expect you to find one before the next meeting," Pierce hissed menacingly.

"Blade, you look ready to kill Pierce. Why don't you dance tonight?"

"I think I'll pass tonight Talon."

"What, are you injured? I thought things like that weren't supposed to happen in retirement."

"No, I am not, and you can get your ass out of my buisness," snapped Blade.

"You're not dancing, and I know better than anyone that that is what you do when you feel like killing someone."

Realizing Talon had called his bluff, "Realy Talon I'm fine a horse just stepped on my foot."

"Those prey animals they sure are vicious.


	3. Found

I dismissed myself from the meeting, wondering how I would find a worthy apprentice. Unlike when Talon asked me to be his apprentice I had plenty of canidates due to my notority. The porblem was that none of them were qualified. They all came from wealthy families and thought of being an assasin as a glamerous job. But they would never have the courage to go through with a difficult kill. They were already wealthy, they had other sources of income to fall back upon. One could only become a sucsessful asasin if one was desperate enough. Without facing the choice between kill and starve few in the right minded people could kill. I wondered if my newt aprentice would be someone found in the gutter like me. I found myselfwandering towards the spot were Lilu first found me. I passed a still figure lying crumpled in a dark allyway. In the slums in was a common enough sight and I passed it by with little thought. I walked on for a few yards when I noticed that Rivan was no longer beside me. I turned around. He was alternating between kneading the person and looking up at me. Trusting his judgment I turned around and examined it. A horse, its color indistinguishable in the dark was standing over it. I assumed it was the person's familiar. Its feet were crushed be the rest of it appeared suprisingly unharmed. I rolled it over and saw it was a girl. Blood dribled from her mouth. Something prompted me to pick her up, lay her across the horse, and take her back to the inn with me. In the light of the stables I saw that the horse was white. I frowned, it was too distinct, but for now there was nothering I could do about it. I handed two silvers to the stable boy who led the horse away. "If anyone asks tell them you have not seen a white horse, and don't tell them about the girl," I said in a tone that commanded obedience. I carried her back to my room, first fassing through the tavern earing odd glances from the patrons. I laid her down on my bed. I tried to gently tug her boots off which elected a faint groan of pain. I unsheathed one of the daggers strapped to my waist, and proceeded to cut off her boots as gently as possible. Her boots were made of fine supple leather and had soles of seal skin. From her boots it was obvious that she came from a wealthy family. With her boots removed I could see the full extent of the damage. The bones in her feet had been broken in many places but thankfully none poked through the skin, and the damage seemed to be confined to her feet. Remembering the blood dribbling from her mouth I pulled back her cheek. I gasped in horror. Someone had taken a knife and mutilated her mouth. Her cheeks and gums were slashed open in some places her jaw bone exposed. I grabbed a piece of paper and quickly scribbled on it. Verdan, follow Rivan. I found a girl. Needs her help. -Blade I fixed this piece of paper to his collar with the laces from the girl's boots. "Rivan, go to the castle, and find Verdan. Lead him back here quickly," I said with a sense of urgency. Time seemed to flow slowly, like cold syrup as I awaited Rivan return. In the mean time I decided to make myself useful. I boiled some rags knowing that Verdan would need them. A meow outside my door was music to my ears. I flung open the door, pleased to see Verdan on the other side. He wordlessly walked over to the bed and began to examine her feet. He move on the examine mutilated mouth and frowned.

Blade, even if I stitch up the wounds in her mouth, and they are regularly cleaned they are regularly cleaned they are, given the location still likely to get infected. Eating will be extremely painful for her, yet she must eat if she is to live. Are you sure you want to put her through this?"

"I do not wish for her to suffer, but you must save her. Rivan thinks she is important although I do not know why," I replied confidently.

"Very well then, I shall do as you wish," Verdan said meekly. He spent what must have been a timeglass trying to realign the shattered bones in her feet.

After he had encased her legs in plaster up the the knee I asked, "Will she regain the use of her feet?"

"I don't know," said Verdan sadly. " did what I could to set the bones but I doubt they will heal straight, they were broken into just too many pieces. She will be lucky if she walks without crutches again. Its a shame to see someone crippled at such a young age." He moved on to more closely examining her mouth. "Blade, will you come over here? I need you to pull back her cheek while I stitch it back together."

"What am I now expected to act like a damned healer?" I cursed.

"Well you certainly should know how to after all of the time you have spent under the care of them," he replied tartly.

I gave him an icy look, but by now Verdan was no longer too intimidated by me. After all of the time he had spent caring for me he was used to my ill manners. I reluctantly helped him to stitch up her mouth.


End file.
